


Happily Ever After

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: My Something [4]
Category: Stitchers (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Kid Fic, So Married
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 08:09:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4471802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A morning with the Clark-Goodkin family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happily Ever After

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com/post/125462523746/camsten-love-cameron-kirsten-goodkin) picset by the ever-magnificent [camsten-love](http://camsten-love.tumblr.com).

When she was younger, Kirsten tried to puzzle out what “happily ever after” felt like from the endings of the books she read. You were supposed to get married, apparently, though prince charming always seemed boring so she hoped there was another option somewhere. Sometimes they’d ride around in carriages and wave at their subjects, but that didn’t really seem any more interesting than prince charming or any of the boys she knew. If this was “happy,” she didn’t really see what all the fuss was about.

But sometimes, when she saw people on the street smiling at each other, she wished she could know what it felt like. Maybe it wasn’t really as exciting as all the books said it was, but it would be nice to know what she was missing. 

000 

There was the sound of something being set down on the bedside table. “Eddie made breakfast. I’ll be right back with Mommy’s.”

A perfectly normal sentence, unless it’s your four-year-old daughter talking about her six-year-old brother with an enormous sweet tooth. Confirming this, she felt Cameron shift next to her. “Sweet Pea, I don’t think… and she’s gone.” He groaned, scrubbing a hand across his face. “It should be illegal for children to wake up before their parents’ brains come fully online.”

Kirsten pushed herself up on one elbow, resting her chin on Cameron’s shoulder to get a better look at what Anna had brought. Sitting on the bedside table was a huge, awkwardly cut slice of Anna’s leftover birthday cake from the night before, big enough to suggest that everything that had been left had simply been cut into four pieces.

She smiled a little. “Well, that would take care of the leftovers.”

Sighing, Cameron shifted onto his back to look up at her. “I _knew_ we should have made Linus and Camille take the rest of that home.”

Kirsten shook her head, amused. “Wouldn’t have worked. Camille enjoys enabling you and Eddie too much.” Hearing footsteps, she turned to see her daughter come in balancing another too-large piece of cake on a plate. “Sweetheart, how about you and Eddie put all the cake away and I’ll talk Daddy into making us his special omelets?”

Anna’s eyes lit up, so excited she fumbled the cake briefly. It landed on the plate, thankfully, but there was now a smear of frosting all along the side of her hand. “Really?” When Kirsten nodded, she gave a happy little gasp and ran back in to the kitchen.

Cameron chuckled. “Always a good thing when you can make the women in your life sound like that.”

Kirsten grinned down at him, doing her best impression of that little gasp. He grinned back at her, tugging her down for a lingering good morning kiss. Touching him was a better start to the morning than coffee, morning breath or not, and it was always a temptation to forget that there was anything else she was supposed to be doing.

When they heard a crash from the kitchen, however, they broke apart with a groan. “I can start chopping vegetables if you want to grab the shower first,” she said, reluctantly pulling herself away. She slipped out of bed, tugging on a pair of Cameron’s pajama pants. “That should distract the kids long enough for you to finish, then I’ll take a turn while you’re cooking.”

He made himself sit up.  “Have I told you lately that you’re a genius, Stretch?”

Kirsten smirked. “Not often enough.” She gave him another quick kiss, then headed toward the kitchen. The source of the crash had apparently been their entire collection of pans, which Eddie was trying to put away while his sister whispered corrections about what shelf everything should go on. When he heard her coming, he jumped up and gave her his brightest “I did nothing wrong” smile. “Hi, Mom! Did you sleep well?”

“Very well.” Kirsten smiled back at him, feeling a sweet little ache – the same way she always did – at how much he looked like his father. “Make sure to leave out your father’s favorite pan.” There was a smear of icing at the corner of his mouth, and she grabbed a washcloth to wipe that away before taking care of Anna’s hand. It had gotten on one of the pans, as well, and she dropped that in the sink before heading to the fridge. 

“I can help with that, Mommy!” Abandoning her consulting efforts with her brother, Anna raced to open the refrigerator door and start filling her arms with everything from the crisper. “Here you go.”

For just a blink, she could see her daughter as a tiny, serious baby just learning to take her first steps, and Kirsten’s chest squeezed tight. “Thank you, sweetheart,” she murmured, helping Anna haul everything to the counter. They’d never found a way to fix her temporal dysplasia, but when the memories lined up she was still all too aware of how fast her children were growing up.

“It’s not just you,” Maggie had told her once, the older woman’s expression far away as she watched Eddie play in the yard. “Even now, I can look at Ben sometimes and all I see is my little boy.”

She shook the memory off as Eddie came closer, carefully laying the pan in the right spot on the stove before pushing two stools next to the counter and climbing up on one. His sister, knowing the other was for her, quickly joined him. “Can I help?” he asked, leaning over close. “I promise I won’t cut my finger off.”

“How about you wash these for me, instead?” she asked, handing him the avocados before adjusting his stool closer to the sink. Once he considered it suitable, she handed him the green pepper while she sliced open the avocado to remove the pit.  Anna, deciding she was too far away, climbed onto the counter to consult.

That was when Cameron came in, hair still wet. “Hello, my darlings,” he announced, putting the cake in its container in the fridge before coming over and dropping a kiss on Kirsten’s shoulder. She turned her head for a more serious kiss, and he happily obliged before ruffling his son’s spiky hair. “How are all of you this fine morning?”

Eddie, briefly distracted from asking for more vegetables to wash by the sight of his parents kissing, wrinkled his nose. “I still don’t get kissing. You guys do it, Aunt Camille and Uncle Linus do it, but it just looks gross.”

“It’s not gross,” Anna said, leaning over and pressing a kiss against his cheek. “See?”

“That’s not the—“ Eddie started, then stopped when he saw the expectant expression on his sister’s face. “Nah, you’re right. That’s not so bad.”

“Exactly.” Cameron’s voice was warm as he pressed a kiss to the top of both of their heads. “Now, who wants to get the eggs for me?”

Eddie scrambled off to the stool to help. Anna, shrugging, took his stool then reached for the next vegetable. Kirsten, chest clenching, pressed a kiss against the top of her head before handing over the mushroom container.

“And they all lived happily ever after,” she murmured, thinking of another little girl, years before, with a fairy tale book in her hand.

Anna stopped, looking up at her. “What was that, Mommy?”

Kirsten smiled. “I was just thinking about how much I love all of you.”

Anna beamed back at her. “We love you, too.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my weekly posts and original short fiction on my [blog](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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